Hi,
Today I went to property sub-registrar office in Varthur, Bangalore and enquired about the process for getting an EC for my house since I had to apply for Khata certificate. I was told to fill in the form 22 and submit it at the cash counter. Accordingly I went to the cash counter and gave the filled form 22. The person at the counter ( his name was kiran) asked me to pay 100 INR ( I assumed this was the requisite EC service fees collected by government), entered my details in the computer and asked me return in the evening for collecting the EC. I insisted for a receipt for the 100 INR payment that I made, to which he said I would be given the receipt at the time of collecting the EC.

When I returned for collecting my EC in the evening, I asked for the money receipt for the money that I had paid in the morning. He suggested that the receipt was not necessary but I persisted for the same. So after a while, with lot of reluctance he dished out my receipt from his tray. To my surprise the receipt read 55 INR. I did not argue with him realising that I had made a mistake of not insisting for a receipt at the time of actual transaction. (If I had argued now, he would have just said that he received only 55 INR from me in the morning.) So this is how ended up paying a bribe of 45 INR

Here are my few suggestions to the government authorities, if they care for reducing corruption and bribery.

1) Please display very prominently and visibly official charges for relevant services in every government office.

2) Let all financial transactions, especially cash, for payment of fees be done through notified banks only. Only plastic card based transactions or DD transactions be allowed at the government office, if at all needed.

3) Display mobile contact nos ( ensuring accessibility) of Vigilance office of the relevant area, prominently in the office so if the need be the public can use it when required to lodge a complaint.

This is my story and my bit......... and I am sure these suggestions are implementable if we want to change our nation for better.

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